A children's book by Salman Rushdie. At first, I thought it would be like the Arabian Nights, it's not and it's actually set in a modern world, surprise!
In the story, Luka was the young son of a story teller, Rashid, The Shah of Blah. Unlike the "Big Fish" where the son didn't believe the father's stories, Luka believed and embraced the stories his father told him. They had a very good father and son bond. As a teenager, Luka went to school, played games and upset with his left handed hand. The way the mother comforted Luka was a very good word play. She said "maybe you are correct to believe that the left way around is the right way, and the rest of us are not right, but wrong. Let your hands take you where they will. Just keep them busy, that's all. Go left by all means, but don't dawdle; do not be left behind." Hahaha, left and right, wrong and right used beautifully. Initially, I thought the author wanted to highlight Luka was different from other kids from the left handed point of view. Then, at the final part of the story, I realized that it's a foreshadowed plot.
In the story, Luka was the young son of a story teller, Rashid, The Shah of Blah. Unlike the "Big Fish" where the son didn't believe the father's stories, Luka believed and embraced the stories his father told him. They had a very good father and son bond. As a teenager, Luka went to school, played games and upset with his left handed hand. The way the mother comforted Luka was a very good word play. She said "maybe you are correct to believe that the left way around is the right way, and the rest of us are not right, but wrong. Let your hands take you where they will. Just keep them busy, that's all. Go left by all means, but don't dawdle; do not be left behind." Hahaha, left and right, wrong and right used beautifully. Initially, I thought the author wanted to highlight Luka was different from other kids from the left handed point of view. Then, at the final part of the story, I realized that it's a foreshadowed plot.
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| Luka and the Fire of Life |
In the story, Luka cursed the not ethical circus owner who abused animals and somehow the curse worked. The circus animals stopped obeying the owner and a fire destroyed the tent. The owner of the circus, Aag fled. Then, two animals from the circus showed up at Luka's house. They're a dog named "bear" and a bear named "dog". So, the dog and bear stayed with the family after Luka's father agreed to it.
Then, Rashid couldn't wake up one day. He just kept sleeping and no one could wake him up. One night, a group of vultures sent a message to Luka from Aag. From the message, it seems that Rashid's illness was caused by the revenge of the Aag. The next morning, Luka saw someone from his house and he noticed the person was his father.
However, his father was still lying on the bed and the Rashid he saw was not a real people, he's a see-through Rashid. This see-through Rashid told Luka that after the death of Rashid, the see through Rashid would become whole. Luka refused to believe the see-through Rashid. He called him "Nobodaddy". Luka realized that to save his father, he had to get the fire of life. So, Luka started the adventure to steal fire of life accompanied by the Nobodaddy, dog and bear.
First stop was River of time. Luka battled the Old Man of the River and won the riddle contest because he knew he was in his father's world. The world which Shah of Blah created and made alive from all the story telling. The most amusing part was when Nobodaddy asked Luka to push a golden button set. Luka thought it's a door bell. It's actually a "save" button. Hahaha! It's like in a video game where after completed one round, the player saved the progress so that if anything happened later, the player didn't have to go back to the earliest rounds and do it all over again.
Along the way, Luka was accompanied by the dog, bear and Nobodaddy. He met many creatures along the way. Many were willing to help and Luka managed to go through many levels. Finally, when they reached the Heart of Magic where it was guarded with great rings of fire, they were not able to proceed due to the high heat. Luckily, bear and dog recognized that it was a ruse, the Fifi, which was Famous Incredible Fire Illusion by the circus owner, Aag. So, the dog and bear ran into the flame and revealed the Aag who was the guardian of the Heart of Magic. Aag commanded his dragon to kill Luka.
After Luka's companion helped to rescue some creatures (sisters of the Aag's dragon), the dragon rebelled and killed Aag. Then, all of them continued the journey. They met a lot of ex-Gods. Since Luka and gangs were not parts of the Gods' stories, the Gods didn't see them. They even witnessed a fight between the Goddesses to choose "the loveliest of them all", OMG, that is so funny! Even the lines from Snow White showed up here, "Mirror, Mirror, on the Wall," the winner of the fight would be crowned "The Loveliest". I think it's a bit sarcastic.
Anyway, one of the Luka's companions brought him to see the coyote who stole fire. The coyote would act as a decoy when Luka stole the fire. Hahaha, I even googled to read the full story of the theft of the fire by the coyote.
Before they could execute the grand theft of fire. Somehow, the alarm triggered. All the Gods were in full alert to guard the fire. However, in spite of leaving the place. Luka decided to go straight to the Heart of Heart to steal the fire. With the dragons's help, Luka reached the South Face of Knowledge. Although the dragons offered to fly Luka to the summit of Mountain of Knowledge. Luka remembered his father's words, to reach the summit of Mountain of Knowledge, one must make the final ascent alone. The Heights of Knowledge are reached only if one earn the right to do so. One have to put in the hardwork. One can't cheat to the top. Well, it makes sense, we can only get the knowledge if we are willing to learn, other people cannot help to "put" the knowledge into our brains, they can only guide and teach us how to do it.
Luka declined the dragons' offer because it wouldn't be right. Then, he thought maybe the Left Hand Path was the right path. However, after trying falling, rolling and jumping, he still couldn't enter. The ex-gods caught up with them, so the dragons, bear and dog offered to resist the god and let Luka continued the journey. So, Luka believed in the Left Hand Path and finally entered the Left Handed version of Magic World.
However, the Fire of Life was guarded by Fire Guards and Luka was caught. During the trial, Luka was so angry with the ex-gods words that he told the ex-gods that it's his father's world, existed because of his father. Then, suddenly the Magic World became abnormal for awhile and then became normal. Luka was worried that his father couldn't make it. However, the abnormality caused the ex-gods to think. Finally, they decided that they would let Luka take the Fire of Life to save his father and also the Magic World.
So, Luka managed to get the Fire of Life and although there were still some spectacles. Luka and gangs succeeded to bring the Fire of Life to the real world. By the way, the final level "save" button is the door bell of his home. Luka managed to feed his father the Fire of Life and his father woke up from his long sleep. All's well that ends well. Happy final! A good coming of age story. Hahaha!
Then, Rashid couldn't wake up one day. He just kept sleeping and no one could wake him up. One night, a group of vultures sent a message to Luka from Aag. From the message, it seems that Rashid's illness was caused by the revenge of the Aag. The next morning, Luka saw someone from his house and he noticed the person was his father.
However, his father was still lying on the bed and the Rashid he saw was not a real people, he's a see-through Rashid. This see-through Rashid told Luka that after the death of Rashid, the see through Rashid would become whole. Luka refused to believe the see-through Rashid. He called him "Nobodaddy". Luka realized that to save his father, he had to get the fire of life. So, Luka started the adventure to steal fire of life accompanied by the Nobodaddy, dog and bear.
First stop was River of time. Luka battled the Old Man of the River and won the riddle contest because he knew he was in his father's world. The world which Shah of Blah created and made alive from all the story telling. The most amusing part was when Nobodaddy asked Luka to push a golden button set. Luka thought it's a door bell. It's actually a "save" button. Hahaha! It's like in a video game where after completed one round, the player saved the progress so that if anything happened later, the player didn't have to go back to the earliest rounds and do it all over again.
Along the way, Luka was accompanied by the dog, bear and Nobodaddy. He met many creatures along the way. Many were willing to help and Luka managed to go through many levels. Finally, when they reached the Heart of Magic where it was guarded with great rings of fire, they were not able to proceed due to the high heat. Luckily, bear and dog recognized that it was a ruse, the Fifi, which was Famous Incredible Fire Illusion by the circus owner, Aag. So, the dog and bear ran into the flame and revealed the Aag who was the guardian of the Heart of Magic. Aag commanded his dragon to kill Luka.
After Luka's companion helped to rescue some creatures (sisters of the Aag's dragon), the dragon rebelled and killed Aag. Then, all of them continued the journey. They met a lot of ex-Gods. Since Luka and gangs were not parts of the Gods' stories, the Gods didn't see them. They even witnessed a fight between the Goddesses to choose "the loveliest of them all", OMG, that is so funny! Even the lines from Snow White showed up here, "Mirror, Mirror, on the Wall," the winner of the fight would be crowned "The Loveliest". I think it's a bit sarcastic.
Anyway, one of the Luka's companions brought him to see the coyote who stole fire. The coyote would act as a decoy when Luka stole the fire. Hahaha, I even googled to read the full story of the theft of the fire by the coyote.
Before they could execute the grand theft of fire. Somehow, the alarm triggered. All the Gods were in full alert to guard the fire. However, in spite of leaving the place. Luka decided to go straight to the Heart of Heart to steal the fire. With the dragons's help, Luka reached the South Face of Knowledge. Although the dragons offered to fly Luka to the summit of Mountain of Knowledge. Luka remembered his father's words, to reach the summit of Mountain of Knowledge, one must make the final ascent alone. The Heights of Knowledge are reached only if one earn the right to do so. One have to put in the hardwork. One can't cheat to the top. Well, it makes sense, we can only get the knowledge if we are willing to learn, other people cannot help to "put" the knowledge into our brains, they can only guide and teach us how to do it.
Luka declined the dragons' offer because it wouldn't be right. Then, he thought maybe the Left Hand Path was the right path. However, after trying falling, rolling and jumping, he still couldn't enter. The ex-gods caught up with them, so the dragons, bear and dog offered to resist the god and let Luka continued the journey. So, Luka believed in the Left Hand Path and finally entered the Left Handed version of Magic World.
However, the Fire of Life was guarded by Fire Guards and Luka was caught. During the trial, Luka was so angry with the ex-gods words that he told the ex-gods that it's his father's world, existed because of his father. Then, suddenly the Magic World became abnormal for awhile and then became normal. Luka was worried that his father couldn't make it. However, the abnormality caused the ex-gods to think. Finally, they decided that they would let Luka take the Fire of Life to save his father and also the Magic World.
So, Luka managed to get the Fire of Life and although there were still some spectacles. Luka and gangs succeeded to bring the Fire of Life to the real world. By the way, the final level "save" button is the door bell of his home. Luka managed to feed his father the Fire of Life and his father woke up from his long sleep. All's well that ends well. Happy final! A good coming of age story. Hahaha!
Another thing not related to this book, I read an article on xojane about a challenge to read only female authors for one year and the author managed to do it. Then, I think about myself, I read mostly books from male authors. The only female author in my mind when I read the article was Agatha Christie. Hahaha, I think it will be a difficult task for me to read only female authors. However, I read a lot of Chinese novels online that I presumed were written by female authors (based on the feminine pen names). If it counts, then my reading habit is quite balance from the authors of both sexes. Anyway, I think reading is a pleasure, we shouldn't limit ourselves, just read what we love and enjoy every moment of it, even manga!
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